Chinese central and local governments will input 15.4 billion yuan (about 2 billion U.S. dollars) to finance the studies of poor college students in upcoming fall semester, official said on Monday.

The central government will allocate 9.5 billion yuan from its budget and local governments will provide the rest, Zhao Lu, senior official with China's Ministry of Finance told a press conference.

The funds will be used to finance grants and scholarships for needy college students in the semester running from September to January next year, Zhao said.

Around 5.2 billion yuan will probably be allocated to national scholarships, national encouragement scholarships and national grants for students in colleges and universities, including senior professional schools.

Another 8 billion will go on national grants for junior professional schools where enrollments are much higher. All junior professional school students from rural areas will receive a national grant, Zhao said.

Zhao estimated that national scholarships -- worth 8,000 yuan a year for each -- will be handed out to 50,000 college students, the biggest number ever in China.

National encouragement scholarships will benefit 3 percent of all the college students in China, a ten-fold increase.

About 3.4 million poor college students, 20 percent of China's total college student population, will receive an annual national grant worth 2,000 yuan per person, Zhao said.

Editor: Wing